58 Dr Christie on the Agriculture, 4-c. of' the 



lung of September, or as soon after the middle of August as the 

 land is sufficiently saturated to receive the seed *. In about 

 eight days the plant makes its appearance; and when it is nearly 

 five or six inches high (about November), the weeding com- 

 mences. The weeding implement is called Yedee. It is a 

 double hoe, the blades being about three or four inches apart ; is 

 drawn by bullocks, and guided by a handle projecting back- 

 wards. The blades of the hoe, which turn rather inwards, 

 cut out the weeds, and at the same time throw earth on the 

 roots of the plants. This process of weeding is henceforward 

 repeated once in eight or ten days, or oftener, if required. The 

 cotton should be ready for gathering in the beginning of Janu- 

 ary. The first gathering is not considered good. The second 

 and third are the most plentiful ; and the harvest continues so 

 long as the plants continue to bear, which they generally cease 

 to do in the end of March. The labourers employed in gather- 

 ing are paid in kind. They receive a fourth of the first pick- 

 ing, a sixth or an eighth of the second and third, and a fourth 

 or a fifth of the remaining. When the {period of ploughing ar- 

 rives, the stems are picked up, and are used as fire-wood, or for 

 making baskets, &c. 



" When the cotton is brought to the cultivator's house, it is 

 spread out in the sun, and thrashed with rods to cleanse it of 

 the husks. It is then separated from the seed, either by the 

 gin f , or by a small iron-roller, which a woman moves with her 

 toes on a smooth stone. The latter is on the same principle as 

 the gin, only she feeds it with her hands, and works the iron- 

 roller with her feet. The seed is kept for the cultivator's cattle, 

 or paid, in heu of money, to the labourers employed in the se- 

 paration of the seed. The cotton undergoes no more cleaning 

 whilst in the hands of the Ryut, but is sent to the market in 

 this state. 



" The Bourbon cotton is not cultivated in this district. The 

 Ryuts say " that a bush of this cotton takes up too much space, 



• The time of sowing necessarily differs in different parts of the district, 

 for the rains are later as we proceed eastward. 



+ This consists o'^two small wooden rollers, through between which the 

 cotton is drawn, and the seeds are thus left behind. It appears to be similar 

 to the gin used in the AVest Indies, except that it is turned by the hand. 



